Insecurity: A Norm in Nigeria -By Samuel Agbelusi

The issue of insecurity in Nigeria has become something of grave concern to all well-meaning citizens, most of whom continue to wonder how the country arrived at such a dastardly situation where no one is safe; and worse still, rather than abate, the problem is escalating and now totally out of control. Insecurity in Nigeria is a recurring phenomenon that threatens the well-being of its citizens. 

The South West of Nigeria is plagued by a surge in cybercrime, armed robbery, kidnapping, domestic crime, extrajudicial killings, herder-farmer conflicts, ritual killings, and banditry. The South East is a haven for ritual killings, commercial crime, secessionist agitation, kidnapping, herder-farmer clashes, attacks by unknown gunmen, and banditry. The South-South remains threatened by militancy, kidnapping, and environmental agitation. 

The North East has been subject to a humanitarian crisis lasting over a decade and caused by the Boko Haram insurgency and the Islamic State in West Africa Province. Meanwhile, the North West is enmeshed in illegal mining, ethno religious killings, and banditry. It is, therefore, that insecurity in Nigeria has assumed a soft spot in political stance and that it has claimed thousands of lives and extensive damage and loss of property.

Where did it all start?

Since Nigeria’s independence in 1960, the corrupt system has birthed the situation we have ranging from the 1963 crisis to the military coups experience. The 1966 coup is unarguably the ugly cornerstone for the insecurity experienced today in Nigeria. 

The coup was staged and led by Igbo Christian officers, with the excuse of curbing corruption, the highest-ranking military officers from the northern parts of Nigeria, the then Prime Minister, Tafawa Balewa and the Premier of the Northern Region, Ahmadu Bello from the Muslim North, lost their lives in the coup. 

The immediate consequence of this coup was mutual distrust between Igbo ethnic groups and the Hausa/Fulani ethnic groups. That distrust provides strong subterranean currents driving insecurity today. 

The counter-coup staged by northern military officers resulted in the killing of Major-General Aguiyi Ironsi, who seized power after the coup in what was considered the Igbo’s conspiratorial plot to control the country. This leads us to the 1967-1970 Nigerian Civil War which brought several baggage items that aggravated the country’s security situation. 

First, it worsened the ethnic mistrust between the Igbo’s and perhaps all other ethnic groups, particularly the Hausa/Fulani. Maybe, the distrust made it extremely challenging for a Nigerian of south-eastern origin to become the country’s president, further fuelling the perceived marginalisation of the region in the power control equation. 

Second, the direct aftermath was the demand for Biafra, which also paved the way for the ethnic secessionist agitations and the militias of different tribes in Nigeria. The resulting Nigeria-Biafra war became the first of such military confrontation in the entire continent. Many agitations for Biafra are still in place and inspire other ethnic militias in militarising their agitations. 

Also, the result of the unjust killing of Niger Delta activists like Ken Saro-wiwa was the rise of the Niger Delta militia, which immediately secured the consciousness of most Niger Deltans. 

The Niger Delta communities, through several of these militias, protested the unjust and uncompensated exploitation of their natural resources now wholly owned by the federal government. 

The militants attacked government security agencies, government infrastructure and installations, oil exploration installations of foreign multinational companies and continuously took several foreign oil workers hostage. The Niger Delta militancy technically brought in and domesticated the kidnapping-for-ransom that is currently widely adopted by hoodlums and bandits in terrorizing the country.

Then came the 1990s, with significant climate changes such as drought and other economic challenges faced by many countries across the Sahel, which triggered a series of migrations into Nigeria. 

The presence of oil and the famed wealth of Nigeria made it attractive to all versions of visitors. Although these migrations were not initially crime-threatening, many immigrants were also Islamic evangelists who responded to the message of the 1979 Iranian revolution to Islamize Africa. 

Nomadic pastoralists from several African countries also leverage the opportunity to master the forest pathways to the southern parts of Nigeria to search for foliage and pasture for their ruminants.

The heightened clashes between nomadic pastoralists and crop farmers in many southern parts of the country, particularly in the South-East geopolitical zone, were interpreted as an invasion of the region by northern elements. 

That resurrected the agitation for Biafra. The Movement for the Actualization of the Sovereign State of Biafra [MASSOB], set up in 1999, led the fights. MASSOB quickly became a dreaded militant group. Street cults such as the Aba Boys also grouped to resist the government headed by Northerners believed to be behind the Southward migration. The split of MASSOB eventually resulted in the emergence of the Indigenous Peoples of Biafra [IPOB] in 2012, currently proscribed by the federal government as a terrorist organization.

The evolving jihadist zeal of the Mujahideen in Pakistan and Al Qaeda in Afghanistan has always had its eyes on sub-Saharan Africa. As early as the year 2000, Islamic missionaries with extremist’s orientation as Al Qaeda and the Islamic State were already present in some parts of northern Nigeria. 

Again, the inspiration remained high through the remnants of Muslims upholding Maitatsine ideologies of the early 1980s who always considered a Jihad as necessary. By 2009, Boko Haram was born. A few years after that, and following the fall of the Islamic State, West Africa became a new target. To strengthen its hold on Nigeria, Boko Haram swore allegiance to the Islamic state.

The government’s politicization of the insurgency and terrorism give headroom for their rapid expansion and replication despite the pressure from neighbouring countries to contain them. However, absolute poverty, illiteracy, and neglect of the youth in many of the northern states created ready pools of recruits that found solace in the use of ammunition. 

The Impact of Insecurity on the Economy 

As seen in Business Day, Rising violence in the country cost Nigeria 11 percent of its GDP with N119 billion. Similarly, projects worth N12 trillion were abandoned across Nigeria due to insecurity and other challenges according to data from TownTalk solutions.

In the same vein, the global peace index for 2021 compiled by the Institute for Economics and Peace ranked Nigeria 146th out of 163 countries with a score of 2.712, while among Sub-Saharan African countries the country was ranked 39th out of 44 countries examined in the region.

According to experts, insecurity affects economic growth by drying-out investments, increasing unemployment, and dwindling government revenue, among others.

The impact of insecurity is reflected on the performance of macroeconomic indicators, investment inflow as well as economic performance.

As of 2020, over $40.6 billion worth of foreign investments were diverted from the Nigerian economy as a result of insecurity according to the Global terrorism index.

This had implications for job creation and economic prosperity as purchasing power declined. Nigeria is now regarded as the world’s poverty capital and has an estimated 91 million people living in extreme poverty which is projected to reach 106.6 million by 2030.

Telecommunication companies were not left out as MTN projected a possible disruption in service provided due to rising insecurity challenges.

Human capital development also met with a hitch as schools in the north shut down to avoid recurring cases of kidnapping.

The insecurity challenge also affected other sectors in terms of government revenue allocation as the security budget continues to increase year on year.

Data from BudgitIT shows that in 2020 the Federal Government allotted N1.78 trillion for security expenses which is approximately an 83.7 percent increase from the N969 allocated for the same in 2015.

Also, as major regions and states in the country became the hotspot for activities that threatened peace and security, people were forced to move to safer locations within and outside the country. Consequently, places like Abuja, Lagos, etc. are gradually becoming home to migrants resulting in overpopulation of selected places.

Insecurity also contributed to Nigeria’s inflation performance, although data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) showed that it decelerated consecutively from April 202, however, this failed to reflect the reality in the market as prices of goods and food items surged significantly.

Solutions to curb insecurity 

The possible and viable solution is to solve unemployment, this is critical to ensuring a safe society with a progressive and productive individuals working hard to make the country great. To be secured, we must revamp our leadership recruitment criteria and stick to them religiously and honestly. There are need to  interrogate to see the type of education that we are giving to our younger generation. Is it one that guarantees our safety tomorrow or one that will pull us deeper into insecurity? These are issues that we must interrogate critically.